On Oct. 2 Sister Leticia Salazar, ODN, Chancellor of the Diocese, journeyed to Rome to join the 388 other delegates to the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod. Before she departed, she shared some thoughts on what the second and final session of the Synod might hold for the Universal Church.
1. How will this second assembly of the Synod be different from the one that took place last year?
We began the first session with an ecumenical service. This time the beginning is going to be a penitential service, that is asking forgiveness to the Church, to the world, to the people, in the name of the Church. We are invited to ask for forgiveness for sexual abuse, forgiveness for war, forgiveness for places that are indifferent to the immigrant, forgiveness for the lack of concern for creation, forgiveness for not believing in Synodality. There is a belief that if you don’t recognize a sin there is no open door for conversion. Pope Francis is inviting us to recognize the sin, to be humble and to accept redemption. We will hear testimonies of three different people: a victim of sexual abuse, a victim of war and an immigrant. Also, in the first session we went through the different points that we had collected from consultations, in this session it’s about discerning, going deeper. Synodality is about how we can journey together in mission. We are together to proclaim God’s love and His desire for the world.
2. How do you think the familiarity among the delegates of having been together last year will impact the dialogue this time?
For me there will be more a sense of trust and also the call to be able to respect each other in the dialogue. Now we have the ability to look together into what the world is needing, being able to go beyond “my little circle.” The foundation has already been constructed. Now you can go deeper into how we can really be missionaries of salvation, how we can partake together, how we can listen to the Spirit in a more open way.
3. How present do you expect Pope Francis to be this time?
He’s going to be very present because the fruit of the discernment of this month is going to be given to him to articulate. As I see him going to the places of the world that he has visited, like East Timor or Indonesia, to these places of periphery that he has been, at 87 years old, with all the sickness and human vulnerabilities that he is experiencing, and nothing is stopping him. Now, I’m going to encounter him in a different way than I encountered him in the first session.
4. How will the final advisory document that comes out of this session be different than the previous synthesis documents that have been part of this Synod?
This is going to be presented to [Pope Francis]. We don’t know what he’s going to do with it but it’s part of the discernment. He may write something. But there are going to be some commissions working on the different hot topics. This session is going to be going deeper into relationships – relationship with God, relationship with one another, relationship with other churches, relationship with other groups. [Pope Francis] invites us to reflect on pathways, the journey that we need to take. How do we discern and make decisions? How do we evaluate and how do we learn accountability and transparency in our decision-making? It’s going to be exactly like ways to go forward as a more Synodal Church.
5. How does it feel that you, as a woman religious, will be able to cast a vote on the final document, which has never happened until this Synod?
You vote in faith. You vote before God, like when you’re making your vows. You vote and you say, ‘from who I am and from all the things I have, I see this, and I vote with conscience.’ According to the Second Vatican Council, conscience is the most intimate place where God is fixed to you. It’s a big responsibility and it’s a very humble responsibility. If you vote [for the Synod document] then at the same time you are committed to live according to it. You say, ‘I’m putting my life on this.’
6. How do you think the Synod relates to the Jubilee Year that begins in the Church next year?
In a beautiful way. How this experience is taking us to be a missionary church and so we are being called pilgrims of hope, which are people in journey who know that the presence of God is working in you, around you, through you and in spite of you.
7. Do you think there will be marked change in how the Church lives as a result of the Synod?
It will be at the local level. Faith is not an isolated thing, it happens in community. We can get some beautiful documents from the Vatican, but implementation happens at home. If you have a formation program or a formation institute in your diocese or in your parish, what does that look like in a Synodal Church? Parish Councils, are they really making an impact of good news in the parishes? How are we transmitting the faith to the young people in a way that is credible, that they really believe? We have to go back to the first [Christian] community and see how they loved, look how they respected each other. Our places should not be places of bureaucracy, but a welcoming place. That will be the impact of the Synod.